Crazy / Franka / Croatia | Review

Franka Batelić: Crazy for Eurovision points

Among the former Yugoslav countries, Croatia has – for the most part – fared reasonably well. However, over recent years, their record has been less than impressive. Since 2007, there have been five non-qualifications and they have placed no higher than thirteenth - that thanks to Jacques Houdek last year. Despite having withdrawn for a couple of years, you certainly couldn’t accuse them of losing interest in the Contest – they frequently send some of the more "interesting" entries - 2017's My Friend being one of them. This year they change their focus to a more contemporary sound courtesy of Franka Batelić's Crazy.

Although they're rarely dreadful, many of the the recent Croatian entries regularly fail to relate to the wider Eurovision television audience. Franka appears to be aware of this, as Crazy combines its own brand of ethnic sounds with a more Western-styled production. It's the type of current, mid-paced tune that one could expect to hear on the playlists of radio stations throughout Europe and beyond.

It’s a clever option - with its sensuous, staccato beat and sung by a woman who is very easy on the eye. It should have wide-ranging appeal, while some voting allies in its semi could help buoy its chances.

Obviously, much will depend on the staging - and the first semi-final looks as if it could be a tough draw for Croatia. As things stand I feel Crazy is very borderline, despite it being a very engaging composition. It's a definite improvement over many of their recent offerings, but does it have sufficient power to force its way far enough up the scoreboard?

Image by LukaGagula [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

Croatia 

Artist: Franka

Song: Crazy 

Semi-Final 1 | Second Half

Eurovision 2013: Croatia: Mižerja

Back in mid-January Croatia chose the song Mižerja to represent it at this year's Eurovision Song Contest. By February, the six-man singing ensemble Klapa S Mora had been named as the artists that would be singing it.

Mižerja (English title, Hard Times), is a traditional Klapa song which is a style of a cappella singing that is popular in, and originates from, Southern Croatia. Unlike most klapa, the track does not only rely upon the voices of the singers, but also a rousing backing track that pushes the song along. In a nutshell, Mižerja is similar to the kind of output that one would expect from male singing groups, such as Il Divo or Il Volo.

All in all it's a relaxing listen, but having seen how France's Amaury Vassili crashed and burned in 2011, I don't hold out much hope for this. A nice song, but not this year's winner. 8/10.

Croatia will perform in fourth place in the first semi-final on May 14.

What do you think of the song's chances?